| It appears that the name ‘Audley’ originates from the village of ‘Audley’ in Staffordshire, England, which was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. However the village of ‘Audley’ may only be one of the origins of the Audley Surnames. The English language has changed from ‘Old English’ through ‘Middle English’ to ‘Modern English; the two images below show the spelling of the ‘Audley’ name has changed from its ‘Old English’ origins to the ‘Modern English’ spelling. |
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| Whilst the village of ‘Audley’ is clearly one of the origins of the ‘Audley’ surname there are other additional possible origins as follows;
In Ireland particularly County Galway there are/were many people with the Audley surname. It is believed that the origin of the ‘Audley’ surname in Ireland could be from the Anglicisation of an Old Irish Surname; such as Ó hÁiligh (pronounced AWL-LEH) or Ó h-Adhlaigh .It is also possible that one branch of the ‘Audley’ family may have in the late 1700s been called ‘Allday’ and as the family moved from Neston & Shotwick, in Cheshire, England to Liverpool in Lancashire, their surname changed. At the time the family were probably illiterate and their name changed from the way the minister spelt their surname in the parish registers. The process by which the ‘Allday’ surname could change to ‘Audley’ is known at ‘Metathasis’ (the transposition of sounds or syllables in a word). This change is still under investigation but there is both documentary and DNA evidence to support it proposal. In this instance both ‘Allday’ and ‘Audley’ are independent surnames but due to the process of Metathesis one branch of the ‘Allday’ family became one branch of the ‘Audley’ family. (See Audley Family {AA} A similar process has also occurred in the early 1800s in Cheshire, England, where the surname of another branch of the ‘Audley’ family underwent the process of Methathesis and their surname became ‘Aidley’. It is probable that most people with the ‘Aidley’ surname will trace their male ancestry back to an Audley (See Audley Family R) |
DLU 20191126